Academics
understand the Kabbalah to date from the early 13th
century and the publication of the Zohar,
a mystical commentary to the Torah, by Moses de
Leon in Spain. Mystics understand it to date from
the time of the biblical Abraham.

The
Hebrew root of Kabbalah is the verb to receive.
A kabbalist is a receiver. Point your antenna in the right direction,
reduce static, amplify the signal. But be careful!
The way you walk in the world will change.

Early rabbinic sources
(Talmud Hagigah) understand mystical discipline to consist of Ma-aseh Beraysheet
(The Work of Creation) and Ma-aseh Merkavah (The Work of the Chariot).

Creation

Chariot

The
Work of Creation
is an attempt to understand how space and time emanate out
of a Creator beyond space and time. Two frameworks emerge
out of this work:

The Four
Worlds: 1. Emanation (the spiritual); 2. Creation (the intellectual);
3. Formation (the emotional); and 4. Action (the physical).
Consider, for example, the creation of a house. First comes
the need, then the blueprint, then the aggravation, and only
after that, the physical house.

The Ten
Sefirot: The pattern of these ten circles of energy
has become the conventional symbol of the Kabbalah.
Energy flows along lines in each of the worlds.
Each line is defined by the two extremes and a point of balance.
Consider three such lines, one for each of the upper worlds,
and a point below in the physical upon which to balance.The Ten
Sefirot may be superimposed upon the Four Worlds.

This is
The Work of Creation, and a person who masters it gains
insight into the creative process.

The
Work of the Chariot
is an attempt to gain direct experience of God, to dive into the inner world,
reconcile conflict, and risk transformation. The foundation of this
discipline is the visionary experience described in the first chapter of Ezekiel,
considered to be a description of the Chariot of God.

The process consists
of four stages: Descent, Encounter, Reconciliation,
Transformation.

The person who engages
in this discipline may gain insight into oneself and others,
dissolution of the ego, a certainty of direction, but does so at the risk
of disorientation, insanity, and death.

This is not to be done
lightly! It is reserved for those who have attained significant balance
and connection to the rational world.